Voting Machine Vendor Forgot He Had Sold System Blamed for Election Day Breakdown

Records exchanged between Sequoia Voting Systems and the Denver Election Commission show the commission asked for Web-based software that could be used to check in voters on Election Day.

Those documents appear to refute testimony from a Sequoia representative who Wednesday told a panel investigating Election Day delays that he was unaware Denver was using Sequoia's software as a so-called "electronic pollbook."

Experts who examined Denver's technology faulted the Sequoia-designed software for crashing Denver's voter check-in system, leading to lines as long as three hours at some vote centers. Officials estimate that more than 20,000 people didn't vote because of the delays.

But Sequoia vice president Howard Cramer told the mayor's panel he was surprised to learn Denver was using the company's technology as an "e-pollbook" to check in voters at the polls.

"The first time I heard about it was on election night," Cramer told the panel, which was appointed by Mayor John Hickenlooper.

On Thursday, Sequoia spokeswoman Michelle Shafer said Cramer's statements may have been misconstrued.
"Howard (Cramer) certainly knew that we had a product that was being used in Denver, however, that has never been marketed as an electronic pollbook," she said. "That is not what we provided."

But documents released Thursday show the Election Commission specifically asked for that kind of technology as early as mid- January, about 10 months before Election Day.